3 ms·

Since I don't see anyone mentioning this yet, I want to emphasize the recommendation for open-back headphones. This is by a large margin my favorite piece of ha

Since I don't see anyone mentioning this yet, I want to emphasize the recommendation for open-back headphones. This is by a large margin my favorite piece of hardware for making video calls tolerable. I never deal with echo, noise cancellation, or shitty speaker output. But at the same time I can hear myself perfectly fine when I speak and I don't get the claustrophobic feeling of having the external world shut out.

mwcampbell 6y ago
Did you get separate headphones and mic as Ben suggested, or an open-back headset with an integrated boom mic? I think I'd rather go the latter route if I can get a headset with a good mic; the Sennheiser GameOne looks like a good choice.
- munificent 6y ago
  For a while I was still using my laptop's mic. Now I do have a separate microphone as well. I don't use a headset mic. My experience is that those rarely sound good and tend to end up with even more breathing and mouth noises and stuff than even a computer's built in mic. I have a Blue Yeti that work got me. I've asked other people on video chats and they say the mic is a big improvement over my laptop's. I think that particular mic is a little bulky and ostentatious but it seems to get the job done.
  - gomox 6y ago
    The ambient sound rejection of boom microphones (the ones on headsets) is superior to anything else just by virtue of how close they are to your mouth. You have to do a modicum of adjustment to make sure you are not breathing on the actual microphone, or chewing on stuff while you are not muted. I shift to my ambient microphone if I'm eating on a call. Unless you are in a studio-grade environment (including not typing on your computer) or doing some serious voice recording, I have found boom microphones to be the better tradeoff for actually talking to others.

3 ms·

Since I don't see anyone mentioning this yet, I want to emphasize the recommendation for open-back headphones. This is by a large margin my favorite piece of ha

by munificent 6y ago

mwcampbell 6y ago
Did you get separate headphones and mic as Ben suggested, or an open-back headset with an integrated boom mic? I think I'd rather go the latter route if I can get a headset with a good mic; the Sennheiser GameOne looks like a good choice.
- munificent 6y ago
  For a while I was still using my laptop's mic. Now I do have a separate microphone as well. I don't use a headset mic. My experience is that those rarely sound good and tend to end up with even more breathing and mouth noises and stuff than even a computer's built in mic. I have a Blue Yeti that work got me. I've asked other people on video chats and they say the mic is a big improvement over my laptop's. I think that particular mic is a little bulky and ostentatious but it seems to get the job done.
  - gomox 6y ago
    The ambient sound rejection of boom microphones (the ones on headsets) is superior to anything else just by virtue of how close they are to your mouth. You have to do a modicum of adjustment to make sure you are not breathing on the actual microphone, or chewing on stuff while you are not muted. I shift to my ambient microphone if I'm eating on a call. Unless you are in a studio-grade environment (including not typing on your computer) or doing some serious voice recording, I have found boom microphones to be the better tradeoff for actually talking to others.